“I sent our dog for training, and my husband had an affair with the trainer”... A wife’s lament [What do you think?]

[Financial News]  A woman says she discovered that her husband was having an affair with their dog’s trainer after she signed up for behavioral training to address the dog’s separation anxiety. Her husband admitted to the affair, then left home with the dog, and tensions escalated after the dog was injured in a traffic accident.
On the 3rd, YTN Radio’s “Attorney Jo In-seop’s Counseling Center” reported that a woman identified as A sought legal advice on whether she could get her dog back after her husband’s affair.
The dog A had raised was a 10-year-old Maltese named Kong-i. A had adopted Kong-i herself from an animal shelter for abandoned animals a year before she got married.
Her relationship with her husband also began at an animal shelter for abandoned animals. The two met while volunteering and grew close because they shared a love of animals. They later married.
Kong-i was sensitive and had difficulty being separated from her owner. A thought that being abandoned at a young age may have contributed to Kong-i’s severe separation anxiety.
The couple signed up for professional behavioral training to help with Kong-i’s separation anxiety. A’s husband, who finished work earlier than she did, usually took Kong-i to the sessions.
A said she learned only later that her husband had been meeting privately with the female trainer in charge of the sessions. The two grew close through the classes and eventually became romantically involved, she said.
When A confronted the two about their relationship, her husband initially tried to explain himself but eventually admitted to the affair, according to the report.
After learning about the affair, A told her husband to leave the house immediately. As he left, he also took Kong-i, whom A had adopted.
According to A, Kong-i is now staying at the home where her husband lives with the female trainer, his affair partner.
A stressed that she had handled the adoption process and that the animal registration was in her name. She said, “I adopted Kong-i myself from the shelter, and the animal registration is in my name,” adding that she wanted the dog returned.
Her husband insists that he should continue raising Kong-i. He says he has cared for the dog for a long time and paid most of the veterinary bills and food costs with his own card.
A did not deny that her husband cares deeply about Kong-i. However, she said she could not accept a situation in which her husband and the woman who caused her marriage to break down cared for Kong-i together.
Meanwhile, Kong-i was also injured in a traffic accident. According to A, the female trainer lost hold of the leash while walking Kong-i, and the dog was hit by a car on the road and underwent surgery on a leg.
A asked whether there was a way to get Kong-i back from her husband, given that she had adopted the dog herself and completed the animal registration in her own name.
Attorney Lee Hyun-ho explained that ownership of a dog is not determined solely by whose name appears on the animal registration. The adoption process and the actual history of caring for the dog must be considered together, he said.
Lee said, “Having the animal registered in your name does not make you the sole owner. The decision is made by considering the circumstances of the pet’s adoption and the history of its care. If the person who wrote in is recognized as the sole owner, she can ask her husband to return the dog.”
He also explained that compensation could be sought for losses resulting from the traffic accident. Lee said, “If a pet is injured in an accident, you can seek compensation for treatment costs or emotional distress,” adding, “If the woman who wrote in chooses to divorce, she could also argue that the dog should be included in the division of property.”


[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter